In a case that could open the door to medical certification incrementally wider for pilots who seek treatment for mental health conditions, a federal appeals court ordered the FAA to reconsider or further explain its reason for denying the application of an airline pilot who took an unapproved medication with characteristic side effects that are similar to another on the agency's approved list.
The FAA is on track to exceed 450,000 medical applications this year. The agency is equipped to handle about 385,000, so the net result is processing delays that result in significant issuance delays.
Pilots who rely on the requirements of FAR 91.211 for guidance on when to use supplemental oxygen are reducing their safety margins if they fly above 8,000 feet without oxygen.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on June 11 passed the bipartisan Mental Health in Aviation Act of 2025. The bill now heads to the full House for consideration.
The FAA has updated the MedXPress system to streamline the medical certification process, the first of “many steps” the agency plans to take to make it “clearer and faster.”
Dr. Rick Roth was an infectious disease director in Savannah, Georgia, when a pilot he flew with lost his medical certificate. The pilot spent months trying to get his medical back and then asked Roth for help.
A Texas pilot who threatened to kill a would-be employer after failing a preemployment alcohol screening was sentenced on April 8 to serve one month in federal prison followed by one year of probation after pleading guilty to a reduced federal charge.
The FAA announced during a meeting with aviation industry organizations on April 23 that it will not implement its proposed policy that would have replaced the longstanding practice of deferring incomplete medical applications with issuing immediate denials.
The FAA in December, without warning, announced that airmen whose medical certificates were deferred by aviation medical examiners would now be sent denial letters if additional information is required, with the admonition to ask for reconsideration.
The FAA continues to encourage pilots to report laser strikes, and prosecutors continue to charge individuals with a crime punishable by up to five years in federal prison.
AOPA helped formulate and continues to support the adoption of 24 recommendations issued in April 2024 by the FAA Mental Health and Aviation Medical Clearances Aviation Rulemaking Committee.
Missing mail from the FAA can cause certificate holders—including pilots, aircraft owners, mechanics, and others—no end of headaches, including loss of privileges. A new service from AOPA will alert recipients when FAA mail arrives, including (but not limited to) notices with action deadlines tied to the mailing date.
The FAA on December 18 announced a two-month delay implementing a controversial new policy to deny rather than defer medical certificate applications deemed incomplete.
A coalition of pilot advocates and unions asked the federal air surgeon to put on hold a policy change set to take effect in January that would lead to a significant increase in medical certificate denials and consider scrapping the new policy altogether.
The FAA is now fixing a problem that is not a problem—lying on color vision testing. As of January 1, 2025, aviation medical examiners will rely on internet-based tests to detect defective color vision.
Recent changes in aeromedical policy affect how the FAA reviews certain types of closed head injuries. More specific definitions are now in place to distinguish between a “head injury” versus a “brain injury.”
“Don’t do nuttin’ stupid” was a small plaque on the panel of a Stearman I bought many years ago. I used it as a reminder to get my legs ready before every landing to keep those tail fins behind me when landing.
A federal jury in Oklahoma on August 16 convicted Dallas pilot Olukayode Aduragbenro Ojo of making false statements on two FAA medical certificate applications, each of which is punishable by up to five years in prison.
The FAA’s 8500-8 medical application form may be the most misunderstood form pilots must complete and renew anywhere from every five years to every six months depending on the pilot’s age and requested class of medical certificate. I will try to make sense of some of the common problems on the form, which may be an impossible task.
The FAA is seeking pilots willing to participate in a medical research study the agency is conducting during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in Wisconsin later this month.
There is a reason why practicing meditation, mindfulness, and even yawning all focus on taking deep breaths—oxygen is at the center of our consciousness.
A Louisiana pilot who admitted in a post-conviction plea deal to defrauding two federal agencies out of disability benefits over several years was sentenced June 11 to six months of home confinement and three years' probation, along with $850,000 in fines, $750,000 of which are specifically related to fraudulent FAA medical certificate applications submitted in 2018, 2020, and 2022.
The FAA has changed its criteria for evaluating pilots’ mental health status. Under the recent revisions, aviation medical examiners have greater autonomy in determining a pilot’s mental fitness.